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japan

When my family first got cable, I remember watching NHK. Now, as a person who doesn’t speak Japanese at all, and being a Japanese wannabe… the only programs I could actually follow sans subtitles were kid shows. One of them is the long-lasting Okaasan to Issho, which apparently began showing on October 5h, 1959. I think the first time I saw the show was in 1999… or I could be wrong and be 1998. Anyway, if you don’t know about it… it’s like hmm, Menudo meets Sesame Street, but for really really small kids. I’m guessing 2-3 years old. The show has been inventing and re-inventing itself throughout the years. Changing life-size-puppets, and hosts in their many years. Continue Reading…

E! Entertainment Television Latin America is re-broadcasting or did a re-run of their 101 Reasons the 90’s Ruled like at 3 a.m. – that was a longggggg time ago, back when Dave Navarro was still married to Carmen Electra and sharing the same on-air space… or when Nicole Ritchie was not pregnant, even way before she went all eating-disordered on us.

I think those are the bits that I can recall at the moment. Also, one of my cousin’s favorite America’s Next Top Model contestants (if not THE favorite) – Kim… Holtz – was that her last name? You all know who I’m talking about. Was she on cycle 5?

Oh, the 90’s. Those were 10 years of my life. From the beginning of 1990 when I was turning 4 years old… until the end of 1999 when I was about to turn 14. Now, the 90’s in Peru was a whole different thing. For starters, since there wasn’t much technology, or cable TV… and the world was basically not really global – everywhere in the world was different.

Before there were Power Rangers… my cousins and I (and all Peruvian kids at the time, for that matter) got Liveman. Known by the Japanese (according to imdb, anyway) as Choju Sentai Raibuman – get it? Raibu ~ Live? According to imdb, this show is listed in the year 1988… BUT, it is a Peruvian 90’s treat. At first, we had our three Liveman ~ Red Falcon, Yellow Lion and Blue Dolphin. We had the bad guys, the monsters, our giant robot. My cousin would be more than happy to elaborate on that… and then two more Liveman were added to the bunch, making the magic number FIVE!

After Liveman, we got Flashman! Though according to imdb, this is a 1986 show, we got it after Liveman. Choshinsei Furasshuman was about 5 young people (three guys, two girls) who were kidnapped when they were babies and raised and trained in different planets. I think that when they were young adults, the planets were attacked or something and they all went back to Earth – this is the bit where the bad guys and monsters arrive, and you know the drill. There was the Red Flash, the Blue Flash, the Green Flash, the Yellow Flash and the Pink Flash. =D

Another memory of childhood was Jiban, or Kidou Keiji Jiban (according to Wikipedia) – or the sucky English title, Mobile Sheriff Jiban. I mainly remember it as plain Jiban. To make things simple, Jiban was like Robocop, but the inspector or detective could switch robot-mode on and off as he wanted… and well, there were robo-monsters. The show is listed as a 1989 release… another example of the 90’s in Peru.

If we continued to take a look at shows, we notice a LOT of Japanese shows. On TNP, every afternoon we got Noppo & Gonta, also popularly known as Puedo Hacerlo Yo (I Can Do It) or by its Japanese (this is a NHK show) name Dekiru-kana which gave its ‘classical’ tune haha… Dekiru-kana, dekiru-kana – Zate Zate ho ho! – oh those were the times. I even found some other links about this show, take a look at them:

Maybe other favorite Japanese shows in the early 90’s in Peru were also 1, 2, 3 Matematicas (1, 2, 3 Maths) with the alien called Tap (I’m pretty sure) who came to our planet… specifically Japan, to learn more about us. He meets with some dude… I think his name was Nico. And together they went around town, counting fruits or how many fish there were in your fish tank, and learning things like that.

There was also a marionette show, you could say they were like The Muppets, only more artsy. haha – This other NHK show was called Me Lo Contaron en Japon (They Told Me That in Japan), which told different Japanese folk stories… some with demons, other with magical animals in the forest, and so on. It was a pretty nifty show, kinda reminds me of this other animated show called Shakespeare The Animated Tales – but that’s another show for the end of my 90’s.

There were other nifty shows, TNP used to broadcast… some probably not so popular. I mean, TV Peru is really lame now, nothing really cool and unique to watch… without nothing really interesting showing in it, kids juts turn to Cable TV now. I remember watching Las Fabulas del Capitan Oso Azul, or Käptn Blaubär Club from Germany (1993) – German clip here – imdb link here – Also, The Family-Ness from the UK (1984) and Penny Crayon another UK cartoon (1990) -and Los Hermanos Tucan… that’s all I could find out from that show.

Other shows from the 90’s that I remember are Count Duckula (1988) from the UK that was part of the animation programming during the broadcast of Nubeluz, which was also a big 90’s program. Count Duckula was a vegetarian vampire duck, that lived in Transylvania with servants Nanny and Igor. Another one from Nubeluz was ReBoot (1994), a Canadian show that now looks like crap. LOL’ – I didn’t watch the show, but I know it by graphics. My Canadian roommate had a lot to say about this show, haha. He didn’t like it much.

America Television, aka Canal 4 (Channel 4), had anime. Who can forget Saint Seiya (1986) known to us as Caballeros del Zodiaco – American and Canadian audiences… or at least Canadian ones could watch episodes of Knights of the Zodiac on YTV. Though, English dubbing sucks! And my cousin and I were all about watching Captain Tsubasa (1983)… like the old school version, not the new one. I mean, we loved playing Supercampeones in the garden hahaha. I still have some of my collectible D’onofrio plastic cups. There was also Candy, Japanese name in katakana Candy Candy from 1976! It’s so big here in the 90’s that many people will respond “uhh / ooh” when you mention Candy. hahaha.

Frecuencia Latina, aka Canal 2 (Channel 2), had The Storyteller… which all my life, I thought was a show! But it’s actually a mini-series, thing I learnt when I got the DVD. The Storyteller is a 9-episode-mini-series that has a storyteller that tells, most of the times, east-European folk stories with the help of the talking dog, and the amazing Jim Henson’s puppets. This mini-series is followed by a 4-episode-series The Storyteller: Greek Myths – both excellent watch.

Ahda just sent this in. (link here) – It’s a trailer for the Street Fighter World upcoming game by Capcom.

I’m sure the game doesn’t look LIKE THAT. But for sure the trailer looks 1000% AWESOME. A huge part of me just wishes this would be a trailer for a real film, I would totally watch a new Street Fighter film that looks like THIS.

Anyone else think this? Leave a comment? Maybe there’s enough people that they will make one. hahaha~~

Ok, here’s my story. Japanese is pretty awesome, but let’s get real. Any Asian language that I will ever try to learn, will eventually come to a sudden halt with the different writing… Continue Reading…

God, I can’t take much of Hollywood’s new trend on remaking films. Seriously, it’s getting ridiculous!

Ok, so let’s take a look at a list of remakes from other countries…

Why don’t we start from the Oscar-winning, The Departed, remake of the Chinese Infernal Affairs?

How about some remakes from French films, like Original Sin, Taxi, Unfaithful, Wicker Park – all made between 2000-present. The Italian-based Swept Away, or The Last Kiss… and let’s not forget the newest Hollywood trend to remake every bloody Asian film that was EVER successful – The Eye, which apparently Jessica Alba is starring. Or the Japanese-based Dark Water, The Grudge, Pulse, The Ring, Shall We Dance? Or how about the Korean ones, The Lake House, or the new ones like Oldboy, Tale of Two Sisters, and even My Sassy Girl… probably starring Elisha Cuthbert.

Seriously, this just pissed me off by rumors of Lindsay Lohan being wanted for a remake of the film Jeux d’Enfants – aka Love Me If You Dare – starring the awesome Marion Cotilliard. I mean, the film was done what in 2002-2003, and they already want a remake? For real, if you’re gonna start making remakes from all foreign films that were ever a bit successful, why not make a remake of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I’m sure that movie will translate really well for American audiences, and let’s not forget to make a remake of Amelie, and while you’re at it why not make Life is Beautiful in English too! Yeah, and those rumors about making Battle Royale… those are great too! How about making the American version of Amores Perros, or Y Tu Mama Tambien? I mean, you’ve already made Abre los Ojos, even casting Penelope Cruz in the same goddamn role! Why not make every Almodovar film in an American version.

And man… more remakes and remakes. I mean, I don’t really have a problem with watching a remake, I probably watch the film and watch the original. But it’s the fact that most films or most films that seem worth-it are remakes of something, and it seriously makes me wonder where are we going…